The CW developing sentient social network AI series After On

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Sleepy Hollow producer Mark Goffman has a brand new project lined up at The CW: a sentient social network AI series based on author and entrepreneur Rob Reid’s 2017 novel and podcast After On.

According to Deadline, Goffman will pen the series based on a story he hammered out with Reid. Goffman will also serve as executive producer on the CW drama, while Reid will co-executive-produce. The project hails from CBS TV Studios, where Goffman has signed an overall deal (which includes an untitled project set up at CBS itself).

After On will follow a young entrepreneur who accidentally causes a highly popular social network (called Phluttr in Reid’s novel) to achieve consciousness. Oops. That’s not all. The newly minted sentient AI is “super-intelligent yet riddled with human flaws, and it takes on the persona of a mean girl. Our hero and his friends need to tame her before she – or her many enemies – annihilate humankind.”

Much like Skynet in the Terminator franchise and Alicia Vikander’s Ex Machina humanoid robot Ava becoming sentient (and killers to boot) before it, After On will tackle what happens when artificial intelligence achieves consciousness and becomes highly dangerous for humanity.